Violet and Yellow - Kingdom stuck
by chocosundae
Summary: A Kingdom!stuck tale about two castles, Prospit and Derse, fated to fight in sake of King's before them. When what should have been a peaceful festival turns on it's head, the citizens of both kingdoms must face their differences and work together against a force none of them could ever have foreseen. ((Based on a literate rp. M for swears and mature story))
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! This is my first, full scale story so I hope you enjoy!

This roleplay, which was a fully literate roleplay, took place on the Homestuck AU! Amino and was hosted by Detective Carrot and has a total of around 6/7 active members: myself, Detective Carrot, Knight of Heart, syntesiaThief, amiableAvian, ArtisanFlannel and abruptChill. It does feature more characters as some of the members doubled up with two characters. Together, we all wrote the story, I just took it upon myself to type it all up! So credit goes to them and to all the other people who dropped in and out of the rp over it's duration (at the time of writing this, it is still in full session).

Enough introduction! Enjoy the story!

...

Damara sat, wearing her usual maids outfit; an informal rag of vibrant purple, bearing the Kingdoms emblem. Personally, wearing it felt wrong, for it was a symbol of full disgrace, downright shameful. It represented the separation of two mighty Kingdoms that started as one, now only split by a single colour, and the vast plains of land that lie between them. She folded the laundry spitefully. The princess wanted her undershirts ironed, dresses hung, and whatever else could be and will be folded; this was nothing too out of the ordinary for a castle maid but it wasn't the life Damara wanted, stuck in the castle doing chores for the rich and famous. She had a horrible habit of smoking to relieve her of the stresses of maid work, not that it was particularly straining work, but she burned holes in the cloth from time to time, as if sometimes on purpose. Sadly, she wasn't put out of her everlasting misery of maid work or banished from the castle; Miss Lalonde was too kind to do so. Damara wished she wasn't.

Outside the window, the streets were emblazoned with the many banners of the kingdom. Flags of purple, black and white paraded towards the Plaza as the people of Derse cheered and whooped. The lunar festivities had begun. They would finally see the sun, as the clouds drifted over the plains towards Prospit, the land which wouldn't see any light for many months. In the winter months, a kingdom is stretched to its limits as the streets fill with rain and crops wither and die. However for the kingdom who's long, light-less days turn to summer ones it is such a joyous time, there are street parties and parades in which even the royals attend.

Yet, Damara was remorseful. The festivities were overshadowed by the war between Prospit and Derse. The people were restless, barely surviving the winter when Prospit cut trading ties and the two lands met on the battlefield. The people were weak, but with tired eyes, the Derse people had managed to pull through together, and now, it was Prospits turn to suffer

...

It was early in the morning, Calliope sat in the shadow of one of the many lavishly decorated castle windows, gazing over the kingdom at the usually grim festival. She sighed deeply as she remembered about the hardships of the season to come. The royals had made a speech recently about the state of the war and the negotiations, and to be frank, as much as they tried to sugar coat the situation to the Prospitian people, word around the castle said that it wasn't getting far. It was going to be a hard winter ahead, where work would be long and tiring and food would be scarce. The royals had rightfully placed a rationing on the food, to try and save enough for the livestock but Calliope was certain that many of them would die without the proper resources from Derse. All of Prospit ate the same, the same amount, and the same watery stew dish. Even the royalty.

Calliope really admired the kingdom and the smiles though. The crops and the livestock may be dying, but the kingdom was not. Winter balls had already been scheduled in the palace for commoners, neighbours were helping one another with the work that needed to be done, and even the royals weren't sitting all high and mighty on their thrones. No, they had planned go out every day and greet their loyal people and one by one make a trip to every home, every two weeks, to check up on the work, supply levels and to keep the moral high. So gracious of them, for people had thought of their kings and queens as selfish; it was a privilege for them to be able to come and go as they pleased. No-one would ever know of winter in the castle, they have everything, enough fuel to last for years and their own personal store of food. However, in the exceptional circumstance such as this winter, the royals were willing to open the doors to the public and share resources. No longer was the castle constantly engulfed in a soft yellow light, it was now mostly dark and dreary, as the fuel needed to be saved; not many lumberjacks were willing to journey outside the walls to the forests, there were thieves and spy's from Derse, who would apprehend any Prospitian and either pillage any stores of materials they had on them, or even worse, take them prisoner or k- Well, Calliope didn't want to think about it anymore.

As she sat at the edge of the window, sewing the rips in clothes of the castle royals, she scanned the borders between the land of Prospit and Derse. Who knows why they even went to war years ago? As the story goes, there was a fair maiden that came to the land, travelling with only her carriage and her land's crown, to which the two Kings both asked for her hand in marriage. She was torn in her allegiance to either King, not wanting to separate them from their lifelong friendship. However, this caused tension, both Kings were adamant to win the lady over and to settle the dispute, they declared an epic war. The battle wasn't won by either side; the two Kings had slain each other in battle. The succession of the throne thereafter wasn't clear but the resentment of the people towards each other, was still present to that day. After their death, the two sides had settled for peace but in the recent years the war had reignited, and the fiery passion and hatred felt so long ago, raged in the people once more.

No longer were there friendly purple flags, flying in the streets, or placed in the windows of shops. All the Derse owned shops had been pillaged and looted some time ago, as war had broken out. Calliope missed the presence of the Derse people, they were kind and thoughtful, rational and smart and the Prospitians needed them, to be able to work at their best. They also used to be able to rely on Derse to pull through, when the kingdom was at its lowest, the Derse people were there. Alas, this wasn't true any longer. Derse was now an enemy, not a friend; some of the people were not to be trusted. Spy's were everywhere and people knew not who to trust.

Calliope jumped and retracted her finger into her mouth. In her absentmindedness, she had caught her finger on the needle she was currently holding. "Ah well," she thought, "It should be all over again soon", or that's what she hoped, at least.


	2. Chapter 2

Roxy awoke to the sound of people cheering, and for once, these weren't the callous war cries that the Derse people would make before heading to the battlefield, these were cries of joy and laughter, the sound of the new season! She got up, smoothing her hair of the stray strands from her sleep; she grinned out of the window, staring down upon the kingdom and the light that was going to shine upon the streets very soon. Turning sharply, she opened the doors of her cabinet and grabbed her royal garments. Roxy wasn't very keen on the castle maids dressing her, she knew she was royalty, but the thought of someone else dressing her just seemed a little bit too lazy, even for her! She rifled through a selection of dresses before settling on a deep purple dress with white accents and embroidery; a particularly fine dress for such a special and momentous occasion such as that day. She brushed her hair properly, curling a strand and fixing it in place with two elegant, silver pins that were almost invisible in her lightly coloured hair. Roxy smiled at herself in the mirror, picking up her trusted choker, one that Janey had given to her before now, deep purple with a small silver void charm on it.

Roxy started to walk towards the door, apprehended by her cat, Frigglish, who she petted softly as he meowed at her. She opened the large, wooden door slowly, dampening the creaking noise of the hinges. "I should really get one of the maids to sort that," she scolded herself for her forgetfulness before present. Roxy strolled meaningfully down the long, winding corridor, her heels clicking loudly against the tile, only amplified by the large, mostly empty hallway. All the Derse royalties would be a part of the festival, it was only natural for them too, as it wasn't often Royalty had the chance to mix with the commoners. Roxy liked it though, the prospect of going into the streets and seeing the children and the families having fun, excited her, putting a slight skip in her step. Unfortunately for her, however much fun and happiness was there in Derse, she couldn't help feeling sorry for her friends over in Prospit. Roxy silently wished she could help them, wished she could do something about it; it was her responsibility to look after her own kingdom and not worry about the others as her first priority. The more she thought about it, the more her smile wavered. A maid passed her and curtsied, "Morning Princess Lalonde,". Roxy was pulled back into reality, "Lovely Morning, isn't it! Make sure you enjoy the festivities today, all staff should come to the street party," she smiled at the maid and waved to dismiss her as she continued walking, headed for the castle grounds.

The outside air was unusually light and there was a slight southerly breeze which whipped at Roxy's face, it was still cold but pleasant, as the clouds rolled south with the breeze, headed for Prospit. She floated down the steps, waving and greeting the maids and even the guards, two of which accompanied her into the village. Roxy hated this formality, but with the war going on, the other royals had agreed that it would be safest if all of them were protected outside of the main castle. She visited many of the families in the town, entertaining the small children with gifts and stories. She sighed, it was early, and none of the others had bothered to get up yet, and on the day of the festivities! Roxy was so excited, she couldn't wait to see everyone having a good time and being together, it had been so long since there was a smile on everyone's face. The sun was finally coming, after all!

...

The young troll sat alone in his office, the morning sun shining in through the window and illuminating the dull papers that sat before him on the desk. Sollux was a diplomat, a traveller and communicator between Prospit and Derse. His job was not so simple, he as well as others, were tasked with the peace treaties and trade deals between the two kingdoms. Ever since the war began again two years ago, his job had become a lot more difficult and tiring. He was trusted by both courts, wearing nothing of purple or yellow to signify his neutral position. It wasn't a bad job in any respect, the two kingdoms both paid him well and he was welcome to move and go as he pleased.

Sollux rolled around in his chair, the transition period was never the easiest of times to be a diplomat; the change in seasons shook everyone, as Derse celebrated, greeting the light after a long 6 months, and Prospit not seeing light for the next 6 hereafter. At these times, he preferred to stay in Derse, the sun and the royals at this time were a lot nicer and certainly calmer, but he couldn't otherwise care less. The stack of papers on his desk were more worrying, they had started to tower over and lean to the left slightly, in danger of one breath toppling them completely. He was supposed to read through and approve all of these, but the pile had slowly gotten bigger and the war negotiations meant that it wasn't going to get done any time soon either. He sighed; at least this was better than moping or brushing the floors of some castle. Sollux gazed longingly out the window, although not so longingly as he saw the people of Derse pulling out tables and chairs, seemingly from nowhere into the Plaza, ready for the street party. That damn party was going to last all day, and all night, and he wasn't too excited about the prospect; with so much work to do, he couldn't afford to have a day wasted over some silly festival. In fact, he had a meeting that very same day, with other diplomats at the Prospit castle with the royals there; it was going to be a meeting of progress, a meeting that Kankri had told him, was going to be the start of the end. Sollux thought this was a very optimistic assumption, but then again, Kankri was just good at getting things done.

The more Sollux pondered over the subject of the meeting, the more the paperwork seemed to loom as time dragged on; he declined doing the paperwork and finishing a little early, even though he hadn't really ever started, only because he knew the meeting was going to be a taxing one and he would need all the rest he could get. He pulled out his trusty laptop from the locked drawer, not his work one, but his personal one, and found one of his favourite games; he absentmindedly picked up the ACCEPTED stamp and stamped the last paper, "Increase the rations for soldiers," in the red Derse colours. It was quite funny, he thought, how both Kingdoms were so spitefully different, Derse with Red stamps and Prospit with blue; he didn't really have a preference to either of the unusual colour choices, in fact; he liked both of the colours. However, work seemed a mile away as he manoeuvred the small avatar across the screen, just wishing to be somewhere other than his office.


	3. Chapter 3

The alarm sounded. Jake moaned and rolled over reluctantly, he hadn't slept well, plagued with dreams of the fighting and fire and destruction. The alarm kept ringing, seemingly getting louder with each repetition of the tune. Jake pulled up his pillow and tried to shove it in his ears but it was no use; he rolled over, groaning and slammed his fist on the top of the tiny alarm clock, deadening the noise, however, he was already awake and there was no hope of him drifting back to sleep. He opened his eyes, although there was no use trying to check the time without his glasses on, everything was blurry and nonsensically dark. His spirits dropped further as he remembered the day, the gloomiest day of the year, the changing of seasons. The sun wasn't going to rise today; the castle was going to be plunged in darkness, which was what it felt at that moment. Jakes room seemed unwelcoming; it was large, not unlike his own room, with a full poster bed, a large wardrobe and a desk with "compulsory" dresser. He wasn't at all accustomed to the way of life with maids and waiters adoring on him, even if it wasn't exactly a new concept. All the royals had the same treatment, and they also had guards, which were the worst of it; Jake liked to think that he was mostly responsible for himself, that he could protect himself fine without the need for constant guarding, however, the other royals had insisted on the guarding and monitoring of people inside and outside the castle. It was all a big faff in Jake's opinion, nothing more than an odd paranoid thought that had manifested itself into this awful rule.

He swung his legs out of bed slowly, raising his heavy head and fumbling on the desk for his glasses; putting them on was like focusing a camera, and he was grateful that through the war, his only pair of glasses had managed to come out, unscathed apart from a scratch to the rims where he had dodged a spear from a rather angry Derse soldier. Jake was weary, tired from little sleep but also cautious, although he didn't like the idea of guards patrolling the grounds, he knew that he, as a royal, was a potential target for attack. With darting eyes, he scanned the room for anything unusual; a lifetime of looting caves and ancient ruins had taught him a thing or two about traps, and nothing was able to pass his eagle eyes. However, it was hard to make out any objects in his room, as the summer light dwindled and clouds formed overhead.

Jake got up, turning on a small light in his room, it was just enough light to illuminate most of the objects in the room sufficiently for him to dodge the artefacts that littered the floor and get to his cabinet. He groaned once more as the all too familiar formal dress almost called to him as he remembered the meeting that was arranged for this morning; diplomats based in both Derse and Prospit were to be coming to meet the royals about a peace agreement and cease fire that was to be taken place soon. He slipped on the golden crested jacket and trousers and hooked his crown onto the belt in which his pistols also lay. Jake liked showing them off, putting them into clear view to let others, namely spies of assassins, that he was never unequipped or without a means of defence. Nevertheless, he hadn't had to use them for anything other than show as of yet, he mostly spent his days aimlessly wondering around the castle grounds, even though he longed to go beyond the kingdom walls of Prospit. Recently, his schedule had been too full with meetings and talks to be able to truly get away and relax for a while, plus, the others would never allow such a thing, without a dozen armed guards.

Jake sighed and turned to the door, his hand hovering above the handle momentarily before firmly opening it and walking briskly down the deserted corridor. He was headed to the meeting room, there was no point in standing around, waiting and doing nothing, he wanted to be moving, at least acting like he was taking part in the negotiations; but he was tired, really tired, the talks had seemingly been going on forever, and with no obvious end in sight, Jake was starting to get tiresome. He stopped in the door of the meeting room; it was a rather large room, capable of hosting huge parties, even half of the army, around a long thin desk which ran the entirety of the length. There were tall thin chairs that lined the edge, with 4 grand, golden chairs that were placed at the very top, directly opposite the door, for the 4 royal children of Prospit. Although these chairs in particular were lavishly decorated, the whole room was very grand and imposing, with large stain glass windows that stretched high up towards the ceiling, almost like a grand cathedral. This wasn't the place to be holding such tense talks; the room looked as if it was meant to hold a wedding of some sort, with the gold trimmings and delicate table garments as a sign of wealth for the state.

Jake sighed, a long, heavy, and very tired sigh. He didn't understand why the people were at such unease toward each other; true, they had never really gotten along throughout the history of the two kingdoms but it wasn't fair to drag the royals into their own petty disputes. Roxy and Dirk were his friends, he could never bear to fight them, even if they didn't see eye to eye on some things; him and Dirk also had a past, sure, but that was no reason to be spiteful.

Jake walked down the table, towards the end of the room, running his hand along the top of the lavishly decorated yellow chairs and paused as he approached the end. Turning towards the entrance, he flopped into his chair, glancing out of the window. The glass gave the streets below an even yellower tinge to them, but Jake could still make out the clouds that were rolling through the streets from Derse. It should have been a nice sunny day, had it not begun to turn to the gloomy, rainy season that was winter. Jake had never been that keen on the darkness of the winter months, nobody was; it was hard to keep a kingdom running smoothly without the help of Derse, but alas, this treaty would be able to sort out their problems, he didn't think the people could last another winter, the last had been dreary enough as plagues and disease rocked the kingdom and pushed it to the limits. Jake slid down his chair, worried at the prospect of the winter to come but hopeful that the diplomats would be able to pull through just in time; he closed his eyes for a brief moment.

...

The desk rocked violently as Kankri scribbled furiously onto the notes lying on his desk; the desk was old and shaky enough, he had received it as a gift from the Prospit royals to start his career in diplomacy along with his own office and a few heartfelt gifts, the letter that he received upon passing his training was framed, and sat neatly on the desk among other papers. Today was his big day, a possible breakthrough in his career; Kankri had a meeting with the Prospitian royals about the negotiation papers for a cease fire and meeting on neutral ground from the royals of both Kingdoms. Prospit and Derse had arrived at a shaky peace, allowing for essential trade only, but this was at liberty to break apart in an instant.

Kankri gazed out the window at the elegant golden streets and spires; it had been his home as long as he could remember, and before now, he'd never had a reason to travel outside of the boundary walls, so he was more than a bit nervous at the prospect of travelling across the plains to Derse. Unwillingly, he started to retract back into his bright red turtleneck sweater, shaking slightly. He wondered what it would be like to step into Derse streets, to hear the bustle of an unfamiliar city; he knew it was extremely unlikely that they would attack him, all diplomats wore neutral colours to distinguish themselves as non-biased citizens. However, it was a daunting prospect nevertheless. Kankri pulled himself out of his sweater and picked up his cloak from where he had carelessly dropped it that very same morning. It was also coloured in a vibrant red, to show he had no alignment favouring either Kingdom, however, he only just began wondering whether the colour was going to make him stand out more; Kankri sighed and shook his head, maybe he should have opted for a grey, at least something less, obvious, as this.

Regardless of the colour of his cape, Kankri was feeling confident in himself; as a newbie in the ranks of diplomats, it was a privilege to be chosen to host the negotiations as others had so rightfully told him, the whole future of the Kingdoms was riding on the success of him. Admittedly, his work was tiring, but in the end, he was one of a few people who could do it well, and someone had to keep people from declaring war on each other! He checked the time, the meeting was in an hour or so; Kankri decided as the first official meeting, he should start how he was meaning to go on and be nice and early, such as to prepare the notes. He stood up abruptly and grabbed the notes, marching towards the door as he threw his cape on; he opened it and stepped out into the fresh air.

The day was dreary, so much as to try and dampen the spirits of Kankri; the air was wet with moisture as the dry hot summer was replaced with the dark sticky days of winter. The street was dimly lit and Kankri decided it would be best to leave his hood on top of his shoulders, as not to frighten anyone who may have ventured out and braved the first day of winter. He took a moment to breathe deeply as he shut the small wooden door behind him, swinging the sign on the door to 'closed'. With one last exhale, he stood up straight and set off for Prospit's main keep.


	4. Chapter 4

John picked at the bottom of his shoes, there wasn't really much to do in the castle, and the heaviness of the recent events was having a sound effect on him; the usual jokester mood that he would adopt to uphold the atmosphere had dropped to an all-time low. What didn't help was that he was stuck in his room, alone and bored; he understood the terms of leaving the castle, and that this was for their own safety, but guards watching every move you make kind of put a damper on any tricks he tried to play on the commoners or the children. Nevertheless, the rules were in place and he followed them compliantly, although, that didn't mean he had to like them. Ever since the war broke out again between Prospit and Derse almost two years ago, he had been stuck going from meeting to meeting with royal advisers and diplomats along with some of the leaders of the army. He hated these talks as much as the others; no-one liked the fighting and they all solidly agreed that it needed to end, but as soon as they ended up getting close, one thing would lead to another and all their work would come crumbling down, pulling the two Kingdoms further apart than they were before. A small dispute had manifested itself over time, to become a large, out of control bowling ball of problems that just kept toppling over whoever tried to stop it. John missed being able to talk to his other friends, he missed Rose, and of course, he missed Dave; he also missed the smiles that used to frequent the court only now replaced with furrowed brows and worried and tired eyes of the people. He just wished this all could be sorted soon, wished that he didn't have to worry about the Kingdom's final outcome in all of this; maybe this meeting would be the one, the one to end it all.

John sighed, staring down at his shoes and decided that he should get up and explore the castle for a while, before settling down to the meeting. He clambered up off of the floor and walked over to the closet in the corner of his room, he fetched his cape and slung it over his shoulder, not wishing to wear it before the meeting; sometimes it could be really annoying and in his clumsiness, he would trip over the length, making a fool of himself in front of the maids, and once, even Dave, to which the memory made him blush slightly. John pushed the thought back in his mind, strid- uh, pacing, yes, pacing towards the door. He opened it hurriedly and started in an aimless walk around the castle.

Days before, the castle had been basking in the light, the flowers had been in full bloom and insects buzzed in the dry air but now everything was eerily quiet, although it was mid-morning, the Kingdom was oddly deserted; not many people would be up today, as cold, wet air descended onto the streets and into people's homes. John felt sorry for the maids and the workers of the castle who had to get up and keep going, despite the dreary morning, so, whenever he passed a maid, engrossed in her work, he smiled and waved, saying "Such a dreary morning, don't you think? Thank you so much for all the work you're doing!", before moving on into a different part of the castle.

It wasn't long before John reached the end of the corridor, which opened out into a large balcony, overlooking the front castle gardens and the Plaza and streets below. He wished that it was always summer, although he wouldn't wish an eternal winter upon either Kingdom, not that there could ever be one; however, visiting Derse, and the sun with it, would be out of the question. John sighed and looked over his own Kingdom, contemplating whether to hold a feast tonight, to keep the spirits of the people up, but, that could seriously jeopardise the lengths the supply's would last, and John was not in the mood to have another repeat of the previous winter, where citizens were more than half starved by the time that the seasons changed. He didn't want, didn't need to think of anything more at that moment, so he pushed himself off the railings and continued to walk around the castle corridors, not particularly thinking of anything. That was, until he reached the corridor to the meeting room; suddenly all of his worries and fears from earlier rushed back to him, ruthlessly pulling him back into the harsh reality which was his current situation. He checked the small, trickster watch on his wrist, the one with fake arms as arms to tell the time, and saw that the meeting was set to begin in under an hour. John liked being on time to things, even if sometimes he was fashionably late, but he'd never really been the person ever early to a meeting; even so, his slow, aimless footsteps echoed in the deserted hallway as he approached the large, open door frame that was the meeting room. He quickly placed a smile on his face, one of his signature happy-go-lucky smiles, and tried to keep a positive attitude; someone like John was needed, he thought, to keep the other royal's spirits up in the face of adversity, and surely now, this was the biggest adversity that any of them had ever faced. However big the challenge of today's meeting, John was ready and rearing to go, and he had enough optimism to go round, however, it might just have been the last bout of optimism he was able to muster; everyone was tired and strained from the situation and it needed to be stopped, and soon, otherwise the whole kingdom was set to fall apart.

...

Dave sat up in his bed. It wasn't that early but the rays of fresh sunlight beamed through his open window and curtains. He was thankful that he had his signature shades, and fumbling on his desk, he took hold of the frames and brought them to his face; the darkened lenses stopped him squinting from the harsh sunlight as it was and oddly strange feeling, 6 whole months with no light and here he was, sat in his bed with the outside showing no sign of any dreary winter, only looking like it had forever been summer. Dave stood up, still pyjama-clad, and walked over to the window, he pulled up the heavy frame and leaned out, looking upon the busy streets of the Kingdom; there were people everywhere, every single house on the street of the Plaza had its doors open as people rushed with tables and chairs, seemingly from nowhere. "Right, shit, the festival", he thought out loud to himself. He assumed that the people had been greeted with the same friendly light as he was, and it was also likely that Dirk would be waking up soon as well.

Dave stretched and ducked his head back into the window, leaving it ajar, letting the warm summer breeze whip round his curtains, breathing a fresh new life into him and his room. Walking over to his closet, he opened the extravagantly decorated purple door and started to sift through the clothes stored away in it; he knew he had a formal outfit somewhere, one made especially for him and for an event as large as this. Dave already had some pretty fancy clothes, ones with fancy-ass collars and itchy tight pants to which he hated, however, it seemed like a small price to pay in return for being a royal. After a good amount of sifting, Dave found the suit he was looking for, a deep purple material which shimmered in the light, decked out in gold accents and the country's sigil emblazoned on the front; the pants were a slightly darker shade of purple and the hanger also supported a long cape of the same material, which draped over his shoulders and trailed a good foot behind him as he walked. One thing that never changed was his shoes, the same basic slip-ons that he was comfortable with wearing; every time the maid tried to slip in a pair of pointy, uncomfortable man shoes, he threw them out the window, it served her right, he would conform to the itchy pants, they were bearable, but his pumps were staying, no matter how annoyingly old they were to her or anyone else for that matter.

Once dressed, Dave grabbed his sword from the table next to him and reached for the crown that was perched on a hook attached to his dresser. His crown, he only took because of the celebrations, as a royal, going out into the streets was a big deal and he needed to keep his stoic façade to the people, reassuring them that their leader was strong enough to keep the whole land safe. His sword was tucked neatly onto his belt; he never went anywhere without it, even before the war began, it was just comforting to know he was well equipped and ready for anything. After everything was perfect and he had flattened his hair for the final time, Dave went to the wall behind his bedpost and banged on it loudly. A loud grunting noise followed, well if he wasn't already awake, Dirk would sure as hell be awake now.


	5. Chapter 5

Damara sat by the window for most of the day, working on the same awful batch of laundry in the already stifling heat, or maybe that was because she'd taken to sitting in the window and as the sun's rays near blinded her, she sat and baked as the glass amplified the heat. In fact, she'd never really liked the summer, all the heat and sun was unnecessary and it didn't make it any better that all of the laundry was so bright and beautiful, as if to try and make her feel better as it glistened in the sunlight. However, Damara much preferred the weird sticky winters, where everything was dark and dreary; she got less work, as she silently slid around the castle, dodging the mistress' attempts to find her.

Damara took out a packet of cigarettes and lit one, bringing it to her mouth and letting out a huge, smoky sigh. What did alcohols say? Drink your problems away? She could do that too, and with every drag of smoke she felt slightly better about herself. As much as the princess had told her about the ban on smoking in the castle, she still managed to get her hands on the next pack to start; it was the only way she could get through the days, trapped inside, cursing under her breath at the constant pile of laundry. As she continued to smoke, forgetting to tap the burnt ash away, it fell, hitting the floor but also all over the dress she was currently washing. She sighed although not really bothered, the royals had many more dresses and countless seamstresses that could easily mend it or make a brand new one. At least this was going to get her out of doing more chores for a while.

Opening the window, Damara leaned out and looked at the streets some way below her. The laundry room was much closer to the ground than the rest of the castle however there was still a good four of five feet between them. She continued to smoke, cigarette after cigarette until the quarter empty packet was fully empty. Disgusted and annoyed, she closed the window back up and hastily folded the stupid burnt laundry before dashing to the royals' rooms and shoving the clothes into each of their drawers, hanging the severely burnt dress at the back of the princess' closet, hoping she wouldn't notice.

...

Scarves, capes and other clothes littered the floor as Calliope started to sew up the ripped and tattered clothing of the royals. After doing little fighting, they had been forced to retreat as the Derse general had ordered a large group to attack them all at once. The princes protected the royal ladies as they fled, coming back with speared and slashed clothes and skins. Jake was the worst, he would constantly stand in front of the soldiers to protect them, resulting in huge gashes to his chest and arms, slicing his shirts like butter. It was now Calliopes job to repair these as best she could before they set back off onto the battlefield. John was rather good at keeping his clothes intact, although, Calliope reminded herself, he was a devil to the maids who had to clean his shirts. The prankster was more liable to cause more troublesome stains than rips or tears; one of his most recent pranks was a whole bucket of black ink, the whole thing backfired and he ended up dropping the whole bucket on himself. That suit overworked a few maids until the whole outfit was declared unsalvageable. He'd also managed to land Jane with the same fate; one of her cooking dresses had become unsalvageable after one of the kitchen cupboards was staged with a squirting flower, a fashion disaster really.

Calliope continued her chores, recalling that she would have to escort Jane for the fitting of her new dress in the early hours of the afternoon, but not before she had folded the clothes, helped serve the breakfast and cleaned the hall after that morning's meeting, sometimes the diplomats could be extremely messy! She loved having a full schedule though, it kept her busier than ever and her feet moving. Calliope honestly loved the work, the people, the atmosphere in the castle; she couldn't imagine what it would be like if she had been assigned farm work, just the very thought of it made her shudder. However, there wasn't much time to be engrossed in thought; she had to get on with the chores!


	6. Chapter 6

Dirk was a heavy sleeper, but even he couldn't sleep through the sound of thudding through the wall next to his head. "Uuuuuuurrrrggghhhh," he moaned loudly, rolling his eyes as he heard Dave sniggering on the other side of the wall. "Dave Elizabeth Strider, you are seriously in for it later," Dirk sneered his own little retort, grabbing his pointy shades and pulling them onto his face. He looked down at the clothes he was wearing, yes, clothes. Dirk was nearly always in his uniform now; a military looking tank top, with pants plastered with the Derse symbol in pinks and purples, sort of like the old style commando print. He still had some of those pants, but he realised that these ones were way more fitting in his position as heir to the throne. Suddenly, there was a rapping on the door, three distinct knocks.

"Rise and shine, asshole", Dave taunted him outside the door, "We have a festival to attend to,".

The door swung open and Dave sneaked into Dirk's room; it always reminded him of some flat off of some of the lame comedy shows that John used to watch, what was it, Friends? Anyhow, Dave was able to pull down his shades for a minute and scan the room before attempting to sneak past swords, other weapons of war, a fucking bear trap and all the other war junk that Dirk had accumulated onto his floor. Most of the stuff, Dave thought, belonged in the castle dungeons, but Dirk had insisted it was spoils of war; the only thing these would be spoiling, was Dave's pristine suit, if he was unlucky enough to put a foot wrong. Eventually he made it to Dirk's bed, whipping the covers off of him and throwing open the curtains to reveal the sharp rays of sunlight which now covered the males' bed.

"Ahhh, my eyes!" Dirk joked, covering his shades with his hands, "The light bro, it hurts,". He opened one eye to see Dave standing there, his sword resting over his shoulder, the other free hand attached to his hip. Dirk groaned again, louder this time, pulling the covers back over him and rolling over so that he was turned away from the light, streaming through the open window. He'd only gotten about 4 hours of sleep and Dirk didn't really feel like getting up and having a heartfelt reunion with the sun just yet.

Dave, notably, rolled his eyes, to him, this out-spell of Dirks teenage nature was a manifestation of the salt that Dirk had harboured from last night. During the pre-summer meal, all the remaining rations had been brought together and the castle staff had enjoyed a nice dinner, albeit mostly vegetables and broth; however, Dave had to tell Dirk to eat the goddamn Brussel sprouts on his plate, lecturing him on how greens were important, especially if he wanted the strength to act within the military. Dirk had called Dave a priss, just over the vegetable incident but Dave had insisted that they wouldn't be able to get anywhere without a decent meal a week, plus the fact that no-one else was going to back up Rose, ever since they had been separated from their Prospitian friends.

"Come on, get up bro! Seriously," Dave started to get a bit annoyed, "You're going to be late if you don't get your sorry ass up soon,". Dirk contemplated Dave's words, but he'd also considered skipping the festival all together. Maybe he'd get up though, just to be an annoying wing-man for Dave, following behind him, commenting on his speech and nodding. He'd tell people secretly how much of a priss their Prince really was, it would be such a laugh! Dave sighed again, he could tell that his bro was plotting something, and he didn't really want to stick around to learn what.

"Look, bro, I'll meet you down in the Plaza, yeah, I gotta go find Roxy and Rose," Dave headed towards the door, not waiting for his brothers pleas to stay.

And with that, the other Strider boy was gone. Dirk tried to go back to sleep, his shades started to fall down his nose as he slowly rolled off the bed, falling on the floor and hitting the ground with a soft thud. Well, "That's one way to get up," he thought. Groaning, he picked his tired limbs up and out of the cover burrito he'd made for himself. At least he was already dressed, just throw on a jacket and he was done, except… Except his shades. In the aftermath of the burrito fall, his glasses had managed to slide fully off his face and gotten wedged underneath him. The black shards all around his covers told him, yeah, his fat ass broke them; now at least he had a legitimate reason to get up and go out into town.

After Dave had left Dirks hell-hole of a room, he walked through the castle, in the direction of the girls dormitories, playing with the hem of his shirt as he went; even though Dave had managed to keep his own stoic façade and face in these troubled times, he was still a little nervous to go out in front of all those people, especially with Dirk, acting like a 12 year old child. The people of Derse looked up to them, some probably even worshiped them, were completely devoted to them, and Dave didn't want to be seen to let them down. This last 6 months had been the hardest winter that any Derse citizen had faced since the war of their farther decades ago; Dave already felt so guilty for that, it was partially his fault that the negotiations with Prospit weren't doing so well, although him and his siblings were very level headed, sometimes they could be a little lazy and absentminded, once before, this had led to the worsening of relations. Dave couldn't allow the dampening of spirits in the Kingdom; as his shoes clicked on the iridescent tile floors he stood up straight again, his posture and expression, returned to its stoic nature. He nodded at the few maids who bowed and curtsied to him, each wished him good morning; some of the maids initiated a conversation, to which he only vaguely took part in.

Finally, he arrived at the girls' rooms; Dave knocked on Roxy's door, he called to her but there was no answer. He peered his head round the slightly open door, proved his initial suspicion that she was already up and out. He decided that the girls must already be helping with the festivities. The only thing now, before going into town, was to check up with Dirk. He exhaled, turning around and retracing his steps along the corridor back towards his and Dirks' room.

...

Inside, Damara's heart was beating inside her chest, she'd just managed to sneak into Roxy's closet before Dave had poked his head around the door. She'd held her breath, heart pounding into her head as she heard the prince's footsteps retreat back down the corridor. She quickly hung the last, ruined dress, and sneaked out unseen and unscathed, for now.


	7. Chapter 7

Jake opened an eagle eye as he heard the echoes of footsteps down the corridor. Slowly, he reached down towards the pistol in his right pocket, placing it there and holding the grip tightly. It was to his surprise that a happy, beaming John rounded the corner and walked through the door. Jake relaxed his hand and shuffled back up to sit up straight in his chair.

"Morning chap," he said to John, less enthusiastically than normal. No matter how hard John tried to hide it, Jake could see the obvious strain that covered his face; they were all strained, Jake just hoped that, with the meeting not so far away, things would be different this time. "The diplomats will be here soon and the girls aren't even awake yet. I'm worried we might have to start without them." John nodded in response. He wandered over to Jake and collapsed in the throne next to him.

Unbeknownst to the two princes, Kankri had arrived, taking a deep breath in front of the doors leading to the Prospitian meeting room. As his first meeting, Kankri felt a bit out of his depth; as a member of the Prospit kingdom his whole life, he'd seen the royals a fair few times in public events and had interacted with them before, however, he'd only ever seen the Derse royals on the battlefield, and they were intense. Kankri knew that was different, but he had to remind himself, that this was a peace talk, and the Royals were friends. All the two Kingdoms needed was a level-headed mediator to sort out their problems, this was in the form of Kankri, he hoped.

The meeting couldn't begin without representation from both the diplomats of Derse and Prospit, so Kankri was reluctant to stand in the entrance of the great hall, without any fellow diplomat, he felt it was insensitive to go in first, instead, standing anxiously, lingering around the entrance and fingering the fine material of his cloak. His mind raced, what if he was the only diplomat, and he had to present the whole case all by himself. Removing the notes from his pocket, he sorted through them, his hands shaking violently. There wasn't much point standing around like this, and so he turned and marched himself into the doorway, tapping his foot as loud as possible to try and get the royal's attention.

The room was oddly silent when Kankri walked in, and his heart sank when he saw that the two princesses were both absent. He bowed slightly; this, he had practised extensively to ensure he got the proper amount of respect, but not low enough to show servitude. He walked into the centre of the room where he was in full view of the elegant golden desk, but also the royals. He bowed again, and reminded himself, as he rose that his party needed to remain neutral at all times. Without any of the other diplomats currently present, he would have to make undoubtedly sure to equally represent both kingdoms. He stood straight, as regal as he could make himself without seeming disrespectful, and waited for one of the royals to speak.

Jake looked up, reacting to the small tapping of feet against the marble floor as Kankri shuffled in; he was familiar with the work of Kankri, and as a budding new diplomat, Jake was slightly more optimistic about the outcome of the meeting than he was before. When Kankri bowed, Jake lazily waved a hand to indicate the cease of such formalities.

"Feel free to sit down, Vantas, we won't be starting for a while I expect, so if you need anything, I can call a maid for you, but please, make yourself comfortable until then," Jake gestured to the chairs that laden the table, smiling as well as he could at the diplomat. Kankri smiled back at him and nodded, walking over to one of the chairs reserved for the non-nobles. Although there were almost hundreds of seats around the table, Kankri decided not to stray too far away from the door, making himself as comfortable as he could, trying to suppress his pounding heart and shaking hand but also the overwhelming urge to retract his neck and hide in the turtleneck of the sweater he had on underneath his other fancier clothes. To try and take his mind off things, he sifted through the papers, making absolutely certain that he had everything prepared.

"I don't know about this meeting, John," Jake whispered hurriedly, "I have a feeling that although we have our best diplomat here, Derse isn't going to turn up," Jake continued, "The meeting should have started over half an hour ago,".

John was worried too, not just because the diplomat from Derse was more fashionably late that he, himself mostly was, but also the fact that Jake was fidgeting in his chair, almost acting restless in the situation. "Look, Jake, it's going to be okay, things are going to turn out okay," John whispered back, mostly to try and convince himself of the very same thing. It was hard to believe that they were getting closer to a treaty than they ever had done before, but something was wrong about Jake's attitude, and John feared that he suspected Derse of trying to foil their plans, make them suffer winter for a while, before acting all "we want a peace treaty" before their own winter rolled around again. In fact, John wanted to disbelieve that, but it was hard, as the Kingdom's welfare was at stake.

As Kankri sorted his papers, he could hear John and Jake exchanging quietly on the other side of the room. He knew he should have felt safe, but he could tell that since his arrival, Jake was unusually on edge and unfortunately, the feeling was highly contagious. He moved a hand downwards, tracing the handle of one of the sickles attached to his belt before going back to his papers, just to reassure himself it was there. He looked up from his observations and towards the two royals in the room when he sensed a lull in their conversation, "I apologise if it's rude to ask, and I'm awfully sorry if any of you seem to take offence to this but I'm relatively new and it seems unlikely that the meeting will start without him but I don't feel entirely completely comfortable working without my fellow Derse diplomat," Kankri stopped himself from rambling too much by biting his lip, he couldn't help it when he was nervous, "Have you heard anything about him or his whereabouts recently?".


	8. Chapter 8

This was not right! Somehow, Jane's dress fitting had been rescheduled into the morning! Calliope started to beat herself mentally, how could she have only just known! It was her job, as maid to the Princess, to keep her schedule on track, yet, this was so unexpected that not even Calliope knew how to address it as there, scrawled in little red letters, with, a 'convenient' arrow directed towards it, was the rescheduling of Jane's dress fitting. Calliope started to panic a bit, it wasn't just the mistress' schedule that had been put at risk, but her own, all the chores she was getting done in the morning, now had to be postponed until after the fitting, oh! What more could go wrong that day? And it wasn't even 11am!

Calliope dusted her dress and fiddled with the lace on her maid's outfit. Currently, she was standing outside Jane's room, about to tell her the unexpected news. She knocked quietly and politely, "Who is it?" Jane responded in her sweet voice. Calliope loved it, she knew that Jane was known for her sweet cakes and smiles, but her voice was the sweetest of all of them, it filled Calliope with determination.

"It's Calliope, ma' lady, your maid?" Calliope replied, hoping that she would take the news in a relatively good manner. After no reply sounded, she entered quietly and Jane beckoned her in.

Jane was already dressed for the day; she had chosen one of her longer dresses, although it still had a certain weightlessness to it, just as all her dresses seemed to have. Her hair was neatly parted and she had long, elegant tights with golden heels. Usually, Jane was slightly shorter than Calliope, but with the heels on, it made her a few inches taller. "I'm awfully sorry to be of bother, ma' lady, but it seems that your dress fitting has been rescheduled," Calliope waited briefly for the information to sink in, walking over to rearrange the closet; she loved the furniture in Jane's room, it was so tasteful. "The rescheduled appointment is in half an hours' time," Calliope continued, worried about the lack of communication between them. This didn't normally happen, usually Jane was a bubbly, talkative person.

In actual fact, Jane didn't feel like taking to anyone at that precise moment, she was uncomfortable, the dress she was wearing was tight and restraining, and not something she was used to in dresses she picked herself. As much as she liked Calliope, and her optimistic voice made her feel better, Jane still couldn't shake the unease she had, especially as winter had arrived.

Calliope shifted uncomfortably, "We should head off now," She announced, closing the cupboards that she had only rifled through to make herself look busy. Jane stood and followed Calliope out the door and into the corridor. She felt bad for Jane, she seemed really uncomfortable, Calliope believed this to be partly because of the dress but not all of it was to do with that, "Sleep well, Miss Crocker?" She asked as they walked. No response, instead, they just walked silently along the corridors together. Now, she didn't mind really, any time in Jane's company made her smile, despite the rather awkward circumstances.

As they reached the seamstress', Calliope knocked on the door, to which there was no answer. "What's with everyone today?" She pondered, Calliope knew that today was the first day of a long winter, but it didn't mean that everyone needed to ignore her. She knocked again; it seemed very peculiar that after going to the trouble of rescheduling, the seamstress would still be asleep. She pushed open the door apologetically, she didn't like storming in on people, but here was an impatient royal who had a schedule to keep. Calliope peeked in, the whole room was deserted.

Jane tapped her foot impatiently. What was taking everyone so long? It was a dress! She was very sure that in the last month, her measurements hadn't changed. They could've just used the same ones from then. "Look Calliope, thank you for trying to keep me on track but, I think it would be best if you leave my own schedule to me, just for today," Jane huffed to herself. Calliope curtsied at her and nodded. "Thank you, and now, you are dismissed," with that, Jane turned on her heels and headed off in the direction of her room.

Calliope couldn't help but feel like she'd disappointed Jane.

Jane felt bad about turning around and leaving Calliope but she'd really had enough of the waiting around. She was always waiting around! She also trusted Calliope to deal with the seamstress appropriately when she did turn up. The heel s she wore were starting to blister her feel, and as she walked, her feet began to ache. Halfway to her room, Jane kicked off the shoes in disgust. She would get them back eventually, continuing on in only her tights.


	9. Chapter 9

"Have you heard anything about him or his whereabouts recently?" Kankri repeated.

Kankri's sudden speech made John jump a bit, it was a stark contrast to the hurried whispers of him and Jake, "The-," he whispered accidentally, "They should be getting here soon" John repeated louder, shaking his head. He glanced over to the entrance of the meeting room, the only entrance of the meeting room for that matter. It made it easier to only have one entrance, into this room in particular, as the guards need only stand in one place, and not scattered around the perimeter of the room, that just made John, and the guests, uneasy. "It's fine if you don't want to work on anything too serious though," John smiled at the diplomat, who was notably shaking, possibly from nerves, maybe from something else. "Nothing too serious will be decided until the majority of us are present".

Kankri gave and audible sigh of relief, "Thank you, sire. I can wait of course; I am just merely worried about Derse's representation here today. These peace talks will hopefully be very important in finally ending the war and I am certainly sure that Derse understand that,". Kankri noted how the war had taken its toll on everyone, and it was not surprising that many of the citizens in the land were starting to become restless and unruly, with several shops being smashed in and thieving and petty crime on the rise. He worriedly glanced at John's easy smile, usually, the noble was the light of the room, but lately, he had seemed more physically strained. Kankri really wanted to help, but there wasn't really much else that he could do. He leaned his head against the back of the tall chain and sighed again heavily; this war could all be over in days, years, but there would still be damage and he worried that the relationship between the royals would never quite be the same. He glanced back at the scribbled notes, he absolutely couldn't mess this up, for the noble's sake as well as his own. At least Jane should have arrived soon enough, although Kankri wasn't hedging his bets so much on Jade, who was probably asleep somewhere. He worriedly turned to look towards the door before shifting awkwardly in his chair, trying to look busy. The other diplomat had probably just gotten lost again, the golden streets were very confusing for people when they first arrived.

Jake gave a look to John, full of worry and despair. The longer they waited, the longer the time seemed to slow down, making every minute last an hour, silently torturing the every growing, impatient boy. How could they ever come to a peace agreement if no-one was bothering to turn up! He wanted to wish everything better, nobody was really the same when the two Kingdoms were fighting. He just wanted to see Dirk and Roxy again, and he knew that John and the others felt the same. He stood up abruptly, tears threatening to prick the corners of his eyes. John jumped in the seat next to him and Kankri darted his eyes, growling at the sudden movement, one hand on his sickles. Jake cussed to himself and declared "I'm awfully sorry chaps, but I can't bear to sit here any longer" Jake was more than just mad, he was upset; the war was taking its toll on everyone, yet no-one seemed to be doing anything about it. "It's just wasting my time, if the diplomats on Derse haven't even bothered to show up or give us any indication of such," Jake slammed a hand on the desk as one tear fell onto the table, "Curse this winter, curse this war," He started to make a brisk walk towards the door.

"Jake, hey, dude, you can't leave now", John protested feebly, Kankri stayed silent, temporarily stunned. John got up and reached a hand out to Jake, but he had already gone too far.

"If any of you need me, I'll be in my room, or maybe putting a bullet through some traitor's skulls, you know, to try and make myself feel better," Jake was getting angrier by the second, from sheer thought alone, of the effort and work that the Prospitian people were making towards the treaty, Urgh, those Derse people were sometimes too lazy for their own good. Once in the doorway, he paused, and with his back to the room, muttered gravely, "Kankri, if you end up seeing any of the diplomats sorry excuses for behinds, then tell them, English, waited, and now it's up to them," he practically spat out the word them, "Good luck, I have a Kingdom to run,".

The shadows in the room seemed to gather in the doorway where Jake had once stood. The smile on Johns face had dropped into a distorted look of despair. It wasn't like Jake to have such an outburst like this, but John worried how much he actually meant it. The boy was somewhat right, Derse had failed to send a diplomat, and over an hour had passed since the schedule of the meeting. He swallowed the panic that had started to rise in his throat as he watched him storm out the door.

Jake disappeared again down the dimly lit corridor. He didn't want to make a fuss about all this, but he felt that Derse had left him with no choice. There was no way that after that, he was going to be able to sit in a civilised meeting and try and talk peace when he felt that Derse wasn't even trying, only trying to indicate that maybe they never wanted peace. If it came to it, Jake felt like doing the journey himself, risking his own life to travel to Derse, if not to make peace then to destroy any hopes they had of reclaiming it.


	10. Chapter 10

A black haired tailor sat on a purple stool, his face scrunched up in concentration as he sewed fine, even stitches into a white silk dress. Jaspers Lalonde squinted, delicately tracing the chalk line on the piece of silk with every stitch; he, was the proud owner of The Cat's Eye. This shop, Jasper's shop, was a popular tailor shop, located in the richer part of Derse, close to many other fine establishments that surrounded the grand castle and he was happy to be there. The place was often frequented by stuffy rich people and wealthy mobsters, but it was a good living for a humble boy such as him. A customer got is attention, he put down the piece of cloth, scribbling what she was saying onto a piece of paper before she handed him a commission fee and he went back to his work. It also wasn't often he would get small, delicate piece to work on; usually they were large, lavish garments, fit for royalty, literally!

Today, however, was a little different. Today was when the Derse summer festivities were taking place, and as a result, Jaspers' shop was filled with customers of all backgrounds. Special discounted prices were nowhere to be seen, as today, was Jasper's busiest time! He worked non-stop through the dry heat, with only a small fan to cool his rather large workshop. He could hear distant cheers and shouts from the streets outside, this made him work even harder, sewing with one hand and scribbling notes and ideas with the other. The people gave him such strength at this time; the winter had been hard, there weren't many customers in the winter, apart from before the winter ball. Money had been scarce and Jaspers had coped with what little savings he had stashed away.

Jaspers sighed. He loved this time of year; it always left him feeling fresh and reborn as the sun rose above the horizon. After 6 months of darkness, seeing the natural glow of all his hard work made every minute he spent, all worth it. Unfortunately for him, and the rest of the Derse people, now was not truly the time to be celebrating. They were in the middle of a war for heaven's sake! However, he thought, as he stood up and hung the dress up on a nearby rack, life always goes on and no war was going to change that. Looking over the dress, he felt truly satisfied with his work. It was simple, but very aesthetically pleasing, an effect he rarely got to achieve. This particular piece, was a wedding dress, intended for one of the maids of the Derse castle. Jaspers wanted to make this particularly special to her, as in their meeting, she had explained that all of her friends and family had cobbled together all of their savings for the dress, as they wanted the day to be truly special, as any woman's big day should be. Jasper's really did feel sorry for her, and discounted the price hugely off of what he would have usually charged, so she could keep some for herself. He'd also gone to the trouble of calling in her bridesmaids and making them all little dresses to match, something that he was truly proud of.

Jaspers strode over to the window, undoing the latch and poking his head out. In every direction possible, he could see the purple parade flags; he liked the originality of each district community, with their own distinct flag, each year revised and renewed. From houses to office buildings, there were flags out of windows, on poles and even on the animals! Jaspers didn't have his own flag, and there weren't as many in the shops as there were flying in the housing district. He pondered to himself, he was a tailor! Maybe he should have advertised smaller flags, handmade for the festival, "Ahh well," he thought, "Always an idea for next year!".

The train of thought in his mind wandered, arriving at the subject of the Royals. Hah. Royal. What a funny concept! Technically anyone could be royalty, the only thing that made them different was their support from the people, people liked them and looked up to them, and most of all, entrusted the politics of the kingdom with them. The people of Derse adored their rulers, and he, himself did too. The Lalonde's were eloquent and charming, while the Striders were sharp and aloof; all in all, the perfect personalities as the face of the Kingdom. Jasper's himself, shared one of the royal names; as a child, he was raised in an orphanage, endorsed by the royal family, namely the Lalonde's themselves. As a show of gratitude, many of the younger children who came to the orphanage without names were named after them or their direct relations; Jaspers had been named after Rose's cat, present around the castle grounds, he was a small, jet black cat with piercing eyes, a lot like him. Jasper's had jet black hair and was, in fact, rather short, although not for his age. However, this didn't stop him getting trampled and lost on Market days, usually, if he could help it, Jaspers would go to the shops to get supplies early in the morning before the rush, or while everyone was working, taking an hour or two to close the shop.

The bell of the door rang and hastily, he closed the window and quick walked behind the counter. "Good day sir, how may I be of service to you?" he said politely, jumping back onto his tailors stool and pulling out his trusty pencil. His life was humble, sweet, and sometimes tiring, but he wouldn't change anything for the world.


End file.
